An American in Britain

I find it hilarious that the agent wants to come see the house tomorrow with the goal of trying to market it for a new tenant.

Her colleague had had the audacity to send us a letter stating that he could not talk to the electric company, so it was up to talk to them and we should do so ASAP as our lease is quickly nearing the end.  First of all, why send us a letter to tell us that?  The previous agent (who no longer works with them) had no difficulties; the postal service is extremely unreliable given the postal strikes (it took my occupational health assessment a full week to travel a couple miles); the ball is no longer in our court as concerns the electric company.  No replies to our email stating all this.  Then, out of the blue, they want to see the house because the landlord wants to remarket it.  That’s on top of telling us that our lease will expire exactly 30 days from when we definitely stated we will not renew.  Never mind that we had suggested this two months earlier but no one bothered to acknowledge or question it then.

I wonder what the agent will think when she parks up and sees the rubble in front of her.  Our nearest neighbours, also tenants, are showing signs that they are possibly moving out.  They have been the longest tenants on the estate, but I suppose that when the adjacent storage collapsed one morning, they decided that the safety of the structure they are living under is suspect.  We all knew that it would collapse eventually, but to see it happening in front of your eyes was quite novel.  Luckily, no one was hurt.  This was two months ago, and the only thing that has happened is that the landlord’s workers removed the collapsed bricks and placed a metal fence around the area, which meant that our neighbours have been a bit inconvenienced.  Well, we’ve seen furniture being removed from their property and their chickens went today.

I also wonder what the agent will think when she actually walks through our house and sees the mess.  What more surprises will she have in store for us? How will she react when we confront her for maladministration on their part?  We have a very strong case against them and the landlord.  How can they justify forcing us to pay for an extra week when we aren’t even being compensated for living in this neglected property?  And, of course, what have they decided about the electricity?  Still no answers from them on that score.  Yet another example of maladministration.  They drag their feet when it benefits us, but rush when it benefits them.  And they tried to tell us that as agents, they work for us as well as the landlord.  Pull the other one.

Well, I guess, if they will force us to pay for the extra week, we’ll have to prevent them from coming in sooner to fix up the house.  They cannot possibly expect someone to move in with these conditions, unless the new tenants are gullible enough to believe that repairs will be done before they move in.  Wish I could be a fly on the wall when that happens.

Financial stress is still fever pitch, but we’ve agreed on another house and will sign the lease tomorrow.  The movers will come next week, my first day at work.  All I can think is, if we get through the next 3 weeks without further financial burdens, we will manage.

I noticed something this weekend that finally had me thinking about this whole devolution thing in the UK.  It’s been all around me, I’ve read blogs and comments from the English who are decidedly against devolution (or want it to be a complete detachment), but it never really struck me.

Just a brief geography and history lesson.  Great Britain is the big island comprising England, Scotland and Wales; whereas, the UK is Great Britain, Northern Ireland and all the other islands.  Now, Jersey and Guernsey have their own “government”, but it wasn’t until 10 years ago that NI, Scotland and Wales had their own separate government (devolution).  This happened after my husband left the UK, so even he has been unable to fully comprehend the implications.

Well, we were at a gymnastics meet, and they were selling the usual: leos and athletic gear.  One of the items was a gym bag with the English Gymnastics logo.  English Gymnastics?  I had not heard that term before.  As far as we know, our daughter belongs to British Gymnastics.

But, it did make me wonder why there was no English Gymnastics?  I had never really questioned it before.  Never mind that when I tried to find a club in Wales or Scotland (when we had considered moving to either of those countries) under British Gymnastics, I couldn’t find any.  At first, I thought that neither country cared for the sport.  I later read in a magazine (at the gym) about Scottish Gymnastics and how some British members competed there.  That made me search for clubs under the Scottish Gymnastics and Welsh Gymnastics and I found them.  Still it never made me question English Gymnastics.

There is no English Gymnastics.  It’s British Gymnastics.  Why is that?  Is England not important enough to have its own?  But, British Gymnastics does not incorporate Scottish or Welsh Gymnastics.  Or, perhaps it once did, but devolution has now affected sports as well.  (I know there was a big row about having a national team for the Olympics and World Cup, etc., because each country wants its own team, but I believe there’s some ruling about having a single British team.)  So, if Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have their own clubs, will British Gymnastics change its name to English Gymnastics, or does England no longer exist except as part of the entity of Great Britain?

I’ve already mentioned the helpful motorists in times of need. Now, I’m moving on to the opposite end of the spectrum.  The rude, obnoxious drivers who inspire road rage in the best of us.

We all know Britain has narrow roads, at least, much narrower than in the US.  I cannot compare it to any other European countries.  We understand that in order to get around as safely and effectively as possible, we all need to give and take, respect other drivers, and share the road.  For the most part, it works.  But, all too frequently, we run into a road hogger.  Yes, you know the ones I mean.  The ones who think they own the road and that everyone needs to bow to their needs.  They’re willing to risk crashing into you, though they drive like speed demons that they manage to get out of your way in that last split second.

Yesterday, we drove through a small town with said narrow road.  The street was made even narrower by cars parked on the right hand side.  Sometimes, we find that even with parked cars, there is sufficient room for two cars to move through, as long as you’re careful.  I say this because there have been times when people have not been careful and being too cautious, they give too much room to the parked cars and force us to scratch our wheels on the opposite kerb.  But, yesterday’s experience was beyond belief.

We were driving down the road with the parked cars on our right.  The street was too narrow for another vehicle to pass through (unless it was an obnoxious motorcycle, but that’s beside the point).  Up ahead, we see a lorry truck coming on.  But, instead of waiting behind the parked cars until we get through (which is the rule under the Highway Code) because we had right of way, he decides to come head-on against us.  Of course, we were forced to stop, and he knew it.  Our only other choice was to climb the pavement, but we wouldn’t have gotten very far, because there was a bus shelter where the truck stopped.  He refused to budge and we had to back up 200 ft. for his convenience.  After backing up a little way, there was sufficient room on the right between parked cars for the truck to move into, but he refused to move until we had backed completely up the road.  As we were backing up and he was standing there, several other cars moved behind him.  What were THEY thinking?  Of course, they couldn’t see us, but when the road is that narrow and you see a vehicle stopped in front on the opposite side, wouldn’t you pull off to your side to let things resolve themselves?  After all, you’re driving in contraflow traffic.

It would have been brilliantly clever if we could have somehow made our car break down at that particular moment.  What sweet revenge.  He would have been cursing high and low and we would have had to make all of them back up (which was a shorter distance than what we did). But, alas, cars have a mind of their own.  That truck driver was lucky we weren’t the type of people who would have given in to road rage to commit GBH.  Our rage merely consists of declaring how stupid some people can be.